FBI fires agents linked to Trump classified documents probe: reports

The FBI has fired at least half a dozen agents linked to a 2022 probe into President Donald Trump retaining documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence, US media reported on Wednesday, drawing anger from the association representing bureau personnel.

The FBI raided Trump's residence in Florida in 2022, when he was out of office, as part of a now-dropped investigation into the mishandling of classified documents after his first White House term.

FBI director Kash Patel ordered the firing of at least six agents over their work on the case, multiple US media outlets reported.

The FBI declined to comment.

Trump allegedly kept classified documents -- which included records from the Pentagon and CIA -- unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home and thwarted efforts to retrieve them.

The materials included secret nuclear and defense documents, according to prosecutors.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the documents case against Trump in July 2024, ruling that former special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed.

The Justice Department appealed Cannon's ruling but dropped the case after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.

Trump also denied any wrongdoing in the case, one of several cases leveled against him after his first term in office.

Another investigation into allegations of trying to overturn the 2020 election was dropped by Smith in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.

The FBI Agents Association confirmed that firings had taken place, without specifying a number, and condemned them in a statement for violating "the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect" the United States.

"These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau's ability to meet its recruitment goals -- ultimately putting the nation at greater risk," the association said.

The reports said the firings came on the same day Patel claimed authorities had obtained his phone records in relation to the Trump probes under the Biden administration, when he was not leading the agency.

Trump has long derided the bureau's investigations, including its probes into hundreds of his supporters who violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.